CWT Assists with 3 Million Pounds of Cheese and Butter Export Sales

CWT Assists with 3 Million Pounds of Cheese and Butter Export Sales

Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has accepted 24 requests for export assistance from Bongards Creameries, Northwest Dairy Association (Darigold) and United Dairymen of Arizona to sell 2.068 million pounds (938 metric tons) of Cheddar, Gouda and Monterey Jack cheese, and 947,988 pounds (430 metric tons) of butter, to customers in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. The product will be delivered December 2012 through May 2013.
In 2012, CWT has assisted member cooperatives in making export sales of Cheddar, Monterey Jack and Gouda cheese totaling 115.7 million pounds, butter totaling 71.5 million pounds, anhydrous milk fat totaling 127,868 pounds and whole milk powder totaling 171,961 pounds. The product is going to 36 countries on four continents. On a butterfat basis, the milk equivalent of these exports is 2.630 billion pounds, or the same as 76.6% of the increase in U.S. milk production through October 2012.

Assisting CWT members through the Export Assistance program positively impacts producer milk prices in the short-term by helping to maintain inventories of cheese and butter at desirable levels. In the long-term, CWT’s Export Assistance program helps member cooperatives gain and maintain market share, thus expanding the demand for U.S. dairy products and the farm milk that produces them.

CWT will pay export bonuses to the bidders only when delivery of the product is verified by the submission of the required documentation.

The Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) Export Assistance program is funded by voluntary contributions from dairy cooperatives and individual dairy farmers. The money raised by their investment is being used to strengthen and stabilize the dairy farmers’ milk prices and margins. For more information about CWT, visit www.cwt.coop.